"Quay! Quay! Please stop!" Leon said as he caught up to Charnae. He gently grabbed her hand, making her stop in her tracks.
"Leon, I'm sorry." Charnae said on the verge of tears.
"No, you have nothing to be sorry about." Leon told her.
"I do though." Charnae replied. "We like each other, but we can't be together. I still have my own shit that I'm dealing with and I don't want to let that get in the way."
"Charnae, it's fine." Leon chuckled. "I understand. I'll wait on you, okay?"
Charnae smiled a bit. "Okay."
"Besides, you've gotten so much better compared to how you were in October. You look so much healthier than before and you're smiling more. I love seeing your pretty smile." Leon said, making Charnae blush.
"Thank you, Leon."
Leon smiled. "You're welcome. May I get a hug?" Charnae nodded and they wrapped their arms around each other and sighed quietly. "I think we should beat up Faith and Jordan for blurting that shit out."
Charnae giggled. "No, I'm going after Damien because he's the only one I told. That's how you know they were plotting."
Leon only smirked in response. He decided against telling her that Damien told him about her crush on him. He didn't want to get his homeboy in too much trouble.
"You wanna head back in there?" Leon asked.
"Nah, let's leave them wondering." Charnae said. Leon laughed and they began to walk hand in hand around campus.
-
"I already knew y'all liked each other." Leanne smirked. It was Saturday and Leon decided to take his mother out for lunch.
Leon sucked his teeth. "You think you know everything."
"Because I do!" Leanne replied. "I saw it on Christmas Eve when y'all were doing the Secret Santa."
Leon couldn't help but touch the necklace dangling from his neck and smile. "Aight, I'll give you that."
"So, are y'all together?" Leanne asked.
"Nah, not yet. We'll be official in the near future." Leon replied.
"That's good." Leanne nodded. "I do want to talk to you about something though."
"What's up?" Leon said as he took a bite of his burger.
"I—I ran into you dad a few months ago. He wants to meet you and I didn't know how to tell you because I didn't know how you would react." Leanne told him.
Leon chuckled as he shook his head. "So, he wants to meet me now that I'm one of the highest ranked wide receivers in the SEC and I'm draft material at nineteen years old?" He questioned. "Nah, I'm straight."
"He also has cancer, Leon. He just wants to meet you before his time is up." Leanne said.
"I'm sorry, mama, but the answer is still no. The only reason why he wants to meet me is to get right with God. Besides, he had nineteen—going on twenty years to meet me. That was plenty of time, but he decided to act like I didn't exist. I was important just as much as his other kids. What did I do to make him not want me?"
